Hearthstone Developer Interview - Rating, Social, and Balance Issues

James Duggan, from the Curse Entertainment Youtube channel, got a chance to sit down with Eric Dodds & Jason Chayes from the Hearthstone development team to discuss some of the issues the community has with Hearthstone. You can watch the whole interview below, or skip below to see a recap on what was discussed!

Originally posted by Blizzard

How do you arrive at specific changes when balancing classes?

Statistics from the playerbase ranging from what cards you have in your deck, to win / loss ratios.

Blizzard's internal high-level playerbase often provides insight into how things can change at the top end of play.

Checking on what the community has to say about specific cards and matchups.

Why are you not interested in doing chat against random opponents?

We want to keep the game accessible to everyone. No one enjoys being harassed by their opponent.

Keeping chat to emotes keeps the game flowing at a quicker pace. No one is stopping to type.

How are you planning on improving the social experience?

We've got some ideas, but nothing is concrete. More information in the months to come.

Toasts were recently added to the game which has increased the social aspect of Hearthstone a little bit.

How does the ranked matchmaking system work?

It is based on an internal rating, and to a lesser extent, how many games you've played.

Having games played counting towards your rank helps people not move through the system too quickly.

The developers are currently not satisfied with the current ranking system, and are working on changes.

We will very likely see changes to the ranking system before the game goes live.

What do you think the community wants the most right now?

Players really want a spectator mode!

Lots of interest and desire from players to watch competitive games.

We're looking to build that into our development roadmap into the months to come.

The Arena. Are you considering adding a free version?

There are definitely ways it could happen, but they don't want to the Arena to lose its focus.

BlizzCon and the Hearthstone Innkeeper’s Invitational tournament are both coming up very soon! We continue our inn-vitees featurettes in today’s blog post for your reading pleasure so you can get to know the competitors in the tournament.

In our Invitational announcement, we featured the eight players invited to participate in this fun tournament at BlizzCon: Noxious, Hafu, Husky, Reckful, Trump, Kripparian, Day[9] and Artosis. In today’s blog post, we profile the remaining four players in the tournament. If you’re unsure of who to root for in the tournament, read on and see if some of their Arena picks line up with yours, what their favorite cards are, and who they dread going up against at BlizzCon!

Day[9]

Name

Sean Plott

Online Alias

Day[9]

What got you into playing Hearthstone?

It's a Blizzard game, I've never *not* played a Blizzard game. :P Specifically, I got the chance to play the game right before the Beta came out and I was blown away by the interface and visuals. The explosions, animations, and sound design give card games the visceral, fun feel I've always wanted.

What’s your Battlecry?

Be a Better Gamer.

What are your top 5 must-have Arena picks?

I'm deeply flattered that you credit me with having intelligent Arena picks. If I'm trying to "play well," I'll likely be looking for solid value cards like Chillwind Yeti or Harvest Golem. However, some of my biggest pleasures in games is playing "gamble mode" cards. Either they work amazingly or horribly. Either way, it's a blast. Cards like Millhouse Manastorm, Tinkmaster Overspark, and Alarm-o-bot come to mind. :D

If you had a card designed after you, what would it do?

Be a Better Gamer: 1 Mana: Until end of turn: All your cards cost (1) less this turn. Next turn, lose the game.

What other players in the Hearthstone community do you fear or respect? Anyone you dread being matched up against?

I so totally have a grudge against Husky. We are definitely not great friends in real life and have consistent malice towards each other. I wish cruel things on him, like soggy cereal or bad movie recommendations on Netflix.

What’s your favorite part of Hearthstone so far?

I opened THREE Legendaries in a row. May the RNG gods be praised!

Show your support for Day[9] on Twitter using the hashtag #teamday9!

Artosis

Name

Dan Stemkoski

Online Alias

Artosis

What got you into playing Hearthstone?

I was a Magic: The Gathering player for a very long time, in addition to being a professional SC1/2 player and caster. When I heard about Blizzard making a CCG, I knew I'd love it!

It would have to be Legendary, first off. I'm pretty sure it would draw you cards, and always be cost efficient.

What other players in the Hearthstone community do you fear or respect? Anyone you dread being matched up against?

I really respect LS, he's a very strong player that I practice against a lot. Doa always has crazy decks that seem to work as well. StrifeCro is a really strong player too.

What’s your favorite part of Hearthstone so far?

I really like how easy it is to create a large number of decks and be able to play with them at a moment's notice.

Show your support for Artosis on Twitter using the hashtag #teamartosis!

Trump

Name

Jeffrey Shih

Online Alias

Trump (Trumpsc)

What got you into playing Hearthstone?

I've played Magic: The Gathering quite a bit. The move to Hearthstone is natural since I'm a big fan of strategy and of card games. Once I got started I couldn't stop!

What’s your Battlecry?

"I always hold a . . . (pause for dramatic effect) . . . Trump Card."

What are your top 5 must-have Arena picks?

While no individual card is a "must-have", and many are a "nice to have," I'll list a few card types which every deck needs, represented by some common cards.

1. Bloodfen Raptor - The humble and early 2 drops. You need a few of these which have good stats to survive and/or put pressure in the early game.

2. Chillwind Yeti - You always want to look for efficient mid-game minions which are individually strong and able to win against opposing minions of equal mana cost.

3. Boulderfist Ogre - See a pattern? A few minions like the ogre—big minions—which are, again, individually strong, are the key to victory.

4. Spellbreaker - Minions with useful utility while still having fairly good attack and health values are critical to your success.

5. Shadow Bolt - Of course, you can't only have minions. You'll want some spells, and generally, those which affect the board in a meaningful way (in this example, something that generally kills minions) are the best.

If you had a card designed after you, what would it do?

A legendary panda minion named "Trum Po" with the text: "You control the outcome of all random effects of your cards."

What other players in the Hearthstone community do you fear or respect? Anyone you dread being matched up against?

I respect all of them! While fear isn't the word I would use for what I feel of any of my competitors, I believe in doing my due diligence and so I am wary of all of them and come in with full expectations that they will prove to be tough competition.

What’s your favorite part of Hearthstone so far?

The voice acting of all the cards! My favorite one is Venture Co. Mercenary's "Y-y-you gotta be kiddin' me!"

Show your support for Trump on Twitter using the hashtag #teamtrump!

Kripparrian

Name

Octavian Morosan

Online Alias

Kripp, Kripparrian

What got you into playing Hearthstone?

As a necessary part of life, I must play all Blizzard games. A viewer of my stream sent me a beta key to play Hearthstone right as I realized how bored I was with the other games I was playing. I gave the game a try and haven’t stopped playing or thinking about it since.

What’s your Battlecry?

ヽ༼ຈل͜ຈ༽ﾉ Well Met ヽ༼ຈل͜ຈ༽ﾉ

What are your top 5 must-have Arena picks?

1. Ysera: The strongest single card in Hearthstone. Every Arena draft with this card is amazing because there is always hope that you draw it and proceed to make a miraculous comeback.

2. Venture Co Mercenary AKA "The Kitten": I didn't like this card at first, but the combination of its amazing in game emotes and its devastating presence on turn 5 makes it the most lovable card in the set.

3. Defender of Argus: One of the best control cards in the game. Early board control is largely based on stats over abilities like taunt. Since control players don't often pick taunts, the Defender combines both stat efficiency and can be a helpful taunt if you need it.

4. Stormwind Champion: There is nothing like a Stormwind Champion pick 25 cards in your draft when you realize you have no endgame. The Champion allows all of your early and mid-game drops to begin trading favorably with mid-game and endgame creatures. It fills the role of multiple high casting cost creatures in one card. This card also has the most epic emotes.

5. Shattered Sun Cleric: The current top 3 mana neutral creature allows you to snowball into an easy win straight from your turn 2 drop beating the opponent’s. The +1/+1 can even come in handy as the game progresses, resulting in a favorable trade.

If you had a card designed after you, what would it do?

6 Mana: 2/6 Charge, Battlecry: Silence All Other Minions. Return to Hand at End of Turn.

What other players in the Hearthstone community do you fear or respect? Anyone you dread being matched up against?

Anyone who maintains their gold currency while playing 100% arena is playing very well and should be respected. I mostly fear people who do their homework on me, as I stream all my gameplay and thoughts. If you know every card in your opponent’s deck, they are not going to put up much of a fight if you build a deck to beat theirs.

What’s your favorite part of Hearthstone so far?

I love the combination of a fast paced card game with all the sounds and themes from Warcraft. I played Magic for many years, but I really disliked the time investment in setting up a game, as well as the lack of attachment to the cards.

Show your support for Kripparian on Twitter using the hashtag #teamkripp!

These custom-made icons you see will represent each player as they play at BlizzCon—show your support for your inn-vitee Champion on Twitter by making your favorite player’s icon your avatar for the event! Don’t forget to use your team’s hashtag during BlizzCon so we can follow along with your favorites!

Watch the full event, which includes exciting Blizzard developer panels and other featurettes, by purchasing a Virtual Ticket today. We hope to see you at BlizzCon!

New Class Forums!

We've recently separated our Deck Building and Feedback forums into separate class forums! The old forums were getting a little crowded and this way everyone doesn't feel overwhelmed with everything bunched up together. If you're wondering what happened to your old threads, they've all been moved to the appropriate class discussion forums. Click any of the fancy images below to go straight to the class forum of your choosing.